Player of the Match Marlon Samuels (Win) Date 7 October 2012 Event 2012 ICC World Twenty20 | Champion West Indies cricket team Attendance 35,000 | |
Umpires Aleem Dar (Pak)
Simon Taufel (Aus) Venues Colombo, R. Premadasa Stadium Similar 2012 ICC World Twenty20, 2010 ICC World Twenty20, 2009 ICC World Twenty20, 2009 ICC World Twenty20, 2014 ICC World Twenty20 | ||
The 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Final was played between Sri Lanka and West Indies at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on 7 October 2012. This was the 4th ICC World Twenty20. West Indies won the match by 36 runs, its first World Twenty20 victory. This was West Indies's first major trophy since the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy. West Indies became the 4th team to win this title after India, Pakistan and England. This was the first time where a host team (SL) qualified for the final. In the stadium, the match was watched by 35,000 spectators.
Contents
Background
Prior to this match Sri Lanka and West Indies played 4 times against each other in Twenty20s, where Sri Lanka won all 4 times. Their most recent meeting was in the same tournament. In that group stage match Sri Lanka won by 9 wickets. Including that they also met each other twice in 2009 ICC World Twenty20, once in group stage and another in semi final. Both match were won by Sri Lanka. they won by 15 runs in the group stage and in the semi final they eliminated West Indies from the semi final with a dominating 57 runs win.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka were the favorite from the beginning of the tournament since they were the hosts. They made a flying start against Zimbabwe. They thrashed Zimbabwe and won by 82 runs. But they lost to South Africa by 32 runs (D/L Method) to finish second to South Africa in Group C and qualified for the Super 8 stage. Though the system of ICC World Twenty20 made them C1 of that group. They had a nice and smooth journey at Super 8 stage. They won comfortably against West Indies and England. But there first match at super 8 against New Zealand was a thriller where the result of the match was decided by super over and Sri Lanka won. They qualified for the semi final by being the topper of Group 1 with 3 wins in 3 matches. In the semi final they faced Pakistan. They won by 16 runs to qualify for the final of 2012 ICC World Twenty and there second world twenty20 final.
West Indies
The Windies arrived as a team that could make a run in the minds of some thanks to such players as famed power hitters and all-rounders Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard and emerging star off-spinner Sunil Narine, but they did not begin the tournament well and were beaten by Australia in their first match. Their next match was against Ireland and it was washed away by rain. Both of the team received 1 point. But West Indies qualified for the Super 8 from Group B, next to Australia by the virtue of a superior Net run rate. In the super 8 stage they were placed to Group 1 with Sri Lanka, England and New Zealand. They won against England easily and won against New Zealand in super over. But they were thrashed by the hosts Sri Lanka. still with 2 wins in three matches they qualified for the semi final. A rematch against Australia in the semi finals, but an unbeaten 75 off 41 from Gayle, including four sixes, helped West Indies post a mammoth total of 205/4. Australia struggled to respond, eventually slumping to 131 all out.
Team Composition
Sri Lanka made one change from their winning team of semi final. Akila Dananjaya was in for Rangana Herath, while West Indies team were unchanged.
Match officials
The on-field umpires were Aleem Dar of Pakistan and Simon Taufel of Asutralia, with Rod Tucker being the third (TV) umpire. Ian Gould was the fourth umpire. Jeff Crowe was the match referee. This match was the last match of Simon Taufel as an international cricket umpire.
Toss
West Indies captain Darren Sammy won the toss and chose to bat first.
Match Summary
After Chris Gayle, who had decimated Australia in the semifinals, was dismissed for just 3 to leave the West Indies at 2-14 after 5.5 overs, Marlon Samuels produced 78 from 55 balls, including the longest six of the tournament at 108 meters. Captain Darren Sammy also led a late charge that produced 108 runs in the latter 10 overs to set Sri Lanka a target of 138. They then restricted Sri Lanka to 39/1 after eight overs, produced two run outs and held each Sri Lankan batsman to no more than 33 (posted by captain Mahela Jayawardene). Nuwan Kulasekara mustered a brief fightback (26 runs from 16 balls) but holed out to leave the tail end exposed, and Sri Lanka was soon all out 36 runs short. Samuels earned Man of the Match honors for being the top-scoring batsman on either side while also taking 1-15 in his four overs of bowling.
The win marked the West Indies' first win in an ICC event since the 2004 Champions Trophy and their third ICC world title - though it was also their first since the 1979 World Cup, when a team including Viv Richards, Michael Holding and Clive Lloyd had won the tournament for the second time in a row.